SmartBrief, Inc. has released an extremely valuable tool to add to your social media collection — The State of Social Media for Business 2010. This report is the most comprehensive study I have seen on social media. It is filled with goals, opportunities, threats, and tactics of social media. Approximately 6,500 executives shared everything about how their companies are adopting, integrating and utilizing social media in this benchmarking study.
This excellent survey was designed to provide a benchmark of current trends and ways of tracking the following:
- Who is using social media for business
- What social-media tools and channels are being used
- What goals are being pursued
- What tactics are being deployed
- What obstacles are standing in the way of adoption
- How companies assess their own social-media strategies
Some key insights from the report include:
- 66.5% of businesses have adopted social media in the past 18 months.
- Less than 15% of businesses are measuring the ROI of their social-media efforts.
- Only 14.2% of businesses find their social-media strategies to be “very effective” — and only 7.3% consider them “very revenue generating.”
The data also shows that despite some early innovators, most companies are in the burgeoning stages of social media adoption. The report shows areas that are underleveraged and still have enormous potential for expansion. The following trends highlight how most companies are just scratching the surface of social media potential for business:
1. Many companies are new to social media and have used the channel for a year or less.
2. Companies rely heavily on five major social-media platforms.
3. Awareness of other social-media platforms is low.
4. It takes time for social media to become effective for companies.
5. Most companies use social media to broadcast information to customers and prospective customers.
6. Most companies have not yet cracked the code on how to create an engaging, creative or effective social-media strategy.
7. Most companies do not have an expectation of social-media ROI, and social-media measurement is not yet the norm.
8. There is a big opportunity for companies to distinguish themselves in this arena.
You can download the key takeaways in a FREE topline or purchase the 145-page State of Social Media for Business report. I highly recommend the latter.
